£5.5B Bitcoin fraudster pleads guilty after years on the run

London's Metropolitan Police has secured a "landmark conviction" following a record-busting Bitcoin seizure and seven-year investigation.

Zhimin Qian, 47, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court on Monday to two offences of acquiring and possessing criminal property under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

"Today marks the result of years of painstaking work," said Detective Sergeant Isabella Grotto, who led the investigation. "When our team located Zhimin Qian, she had been evading justice for five years, and her arrest triggered a complex investigation requiring evidence from multiple jurisdictions and the careful review of thousands of documents.

"Today's plea reflects years of hard work across both the UK and China. We are grateful for the support of the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service, and to Chinese law enforcement teams in Tianjin and Beijing with whom we ...